Georgia Best Buy employee says he was blackmailed into aiding $40,000 shoplifting spree, report reveals
Police in Savannah say they have charged six people in connection with a weeks-long shoplifting spree that stole more than $40,000 in merchandise from a local Best Buy.
Officers say one of those arrested was an employee at the store who claimed he was being blackmailed into helping with the scheme.
According to a police report obtained by CBS News Atlanta, officers were called to the store on Habersham Street on Dec. 26 after management contacted them about the series of thefts.
The Best Buy general manager told officers that 20-year-old Dorian Allen had been spotted on surveillance footage allowing people to leave the store without paying.
Allen told police that he had been approached by an older woman weeks earlier at his register and that a "hacker group" had threatened to share nude photos he had posted on Instagram if he didn't help them.
The report says Allen claimed that the hackers sent him emails that included descriptions of the people and their outfits whom he should allow to leave without paying. Allen said that he helped some of the people load their vehicles with the merchandise.
The Best Buy employee could not describe any of the individuals to the investigators, but said the vehicle involved was a black Hyundai.
The police report showed 143 products, including dozens of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S consoles, AirPods, Meta Quest VR headsets, Beats wireless headphones, a PC, a Segway, wireless controllers, and more.
The total amount of what was stolen is estimated to be $40,734.19.
In January, the Savannah Police Department shared surveillance photos of multiple people accused of being part of the shoplifting spree. Officers have since arrested five people in connection with the thefts.
Allen was charged with theft by taking. The other five, identified as Brenda Gardner, Savannah Pendergraph, Shabria Summers, Leslie Bostic, and Chrystal Small, were all charged with theft by receiving stolen property.